Senate Starts to Move on FY2019 Appropriations

Posted on May 22, 2018

The Senate is scheduled to officially start moving on its FY2019 appropriations bills today, with both the Agriculture and Energy and Water bills slated for markups by the respective subcommittees today. The full Appropriations Committee is expected to take up the bills on Thursday. Office of Federal Relations will provide relevant details about the bills when they become available.

Meanwhile, the House Appropriations Committee is set to mark up the Interior Appropriations bill this morning. A copy of the bill and the accompanying report are available here.

Interior Appropriations Bill to Move Next

Posted on May 21, 2018

The next item on the agenda for the House Appropriations Committee is its FY2019 Interior spending bill, with the committee scheduled to take it up tomorrow, Tuesday, May 22.

Among the agencies that the bill funds is the U.S Geological Survey (USGS), which in turn supports a number of programs of interest to the University of Washington. For example, the bill would instruct the USGS to support the Earthquake Early Warning system on the West Coast at a total of $21.1 million, with $16.1 million dedicated to the continued development of the system and $5 million for its capital infrastructure needs.

The legislation would dedicate $19.29 million for the Cooperative Research Units (CRUs), another USGS program, which represents an increase of $1.9 million. The increase would be dedicated to filling the number of vacancies across the country at participating universities. The CRUs were proposed for elimination by the Administration.

The newly renamed Climate Adaptation Science Centers program would be level-funded at $25.3 million. The Administration is seeking a cut of more than $12 million to the program.

A copy of the bill report is available here.

This Week in Congress, May 21-25

Posted on May 21, 2018

Here is a selection of committee meetings taking place on the hill this week.

U.S. House of Representatives

HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS
Full Committee Markup
Interior and Environment Appropriations
May 22, 10 a.m., 2118 Rayburn Bldg.

HOUSE EDUCATION & THE WORKFORCE
Full Committee Hearing
Education Department Policies/Priorities
May 22, 10 a.m., 2175 Rayburn Bldg.

HOUSE RULES
Full Committee Business Meeting
National Defense Authorization Act
May 22, 3 p.m., H-313, U.S. Capitol

HOUSE OVERSIGHT & GOVERNMENT REFORM
Subcommittee Joint Hearing
Freedom of Speech on College Campuses (Part Two)
May 22, 2 p.m., 2154 Rayburn Bldg.

HOUSE ENERGY & COMMERCE
Subcommittee Hearing
Children’s Hospital Graduate Medical Education Program
May 23, 1 p.m., 2322 Rayburn Bldg.

U.S. Senate

SENATE ARMED SERVICES
Subcommittee Markup
Defense Authorization Act
May 22, 9:30 a.m., 232-A Russell Bldg.

SENATE HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR & PENSIONS
Full Committee Hearing
Healthcare Workforce Issues
May 22, 10 a.m., 430 Dirksen Bldg.

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS
Subcommittee Markup
Energy and Water Development Appropriations
May 22, 2:30 p.m., 138 Dirksen Bldg.

SENATE ARMED SERVICES
Full Committee Markup
Defense Authorization Act
May 24, 9:30 a.m., 222 Russell Bldg.

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS
Full Committee Markup
Agriculture Appropriations/Energy-Water Appropriations
May 24, 10:30 a.m., 106 Dirksen Bldg.

SENATE FINANCE
Full Committee Hearing
Rural Health Care
May 24, 9 a.m., 215 Dirksen Bldg.

CJS Appropriations Bill Clears House Committee

Posted on May 17, 2018

The House Appropriations Committee approved this afternoon by a vote of 32 to 19 the FY2019 Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Bill. As noted previously, the bill funds a number of agencies of interest to the university, including, but not limited to, the National Science Foundation, NASA, and NOAA. During the committee markup, an amendment was offered, and then withdrawn, by Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA) that would have restored $60 million to the Competitive Research program for Climate Research at NOAA.

The bill now heads to the House floor for consideration by the entire chamber.

FY2019 Appropriations Bills Begin to Move

Posted on May 16, 2018

With the FY2019 set to start October 1, the appropriations bills for the year have begun to move through Congress, with the House Appropriations Committee taking up a number of bills the past several days.

The subcommittee that oversees the Commerce-Justice-Science bill, which funds various agencies and programs of interest to the university– such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), NASA, and NOAA– cleared its bill last week and the measure is slated for full Appropriations Committee consideration tomorrow.

The subcommittee-approved version of the bill would fund NSF at $8.17 billion, an increase of approximately $400 million. Within the agency, the Research and Related Activities account would receive $6.65 billion, an increase of $317 million above the current level. The Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction account would be funded at $268 million under this version of the legislation, of which $123.8 million would be dedicated to the construction of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.

Under the bill, the Space Grant Program at NASA would be level funded at $40 million in FY2019.

Within NOAA, the Integrated Ocean Observing System would see a slight increase to $37.5 million. The bill would appropriate $68.5 million to the Sea Grant Program while separately funding the Marine Aquaculture program at $11.5 million.

The legislation also funds the various NOAA Cooperative Institutes (CIs). Climate research CIs would be funded at $73.0 million in FY2019, compared to $60 million this year. However, the bill would also eliminate the Competitive Research, Sustained Observation, and Regional Information Program in the broader Climate Research account at NOAA.

Additional details about the bill are available here.

The House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee cleared its funding bill last night, sending it to the full committee for its consideration in the near future. While most of the details about the bill are not yet available, it would fund the Earthquake Early Warning system at $21 million in FY2019. Office of Federal Relations will provide additional details about this and other bills as they become available.

Across the Capitol, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) announced that his committee will move on its bills starting next week.